MARTIN O’Neill has delivered a positive assessment of Villa’s end-of-season prospects, saying he has not lost faith in their ability to turn recent defeats into wins.

“I don’t share this viewpoint that all is lost, absolutely not,” said the Villa boss, whose side are experiencing their best season in terms of points won since 1996. We are capable of winning again, we just need to win a game,” he said.

Villa face a daunting set of fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester United and in-form Everton before a run of games against much lesser lights.

“People start looking at points here and points there, as everybody does,” O’Neill said. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will have all looked at it.

“For us this season to finish in the top four would be phenomenal at this stage in our development.

“We know we can improve the team. We’d like to think that we can improve the side again but I think sometimes you have to take a slight step back.

“But I must admit that when you get invited in the Peace Cup the amazing thing about it is that with a wee bit of luck there’s more than a great chance that we will be automatically involved in the UEFA Cup next season.